Brief History

 A Brief History of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel and Her Perfumes

Gabrielle Chanel, known worldwide as “Coco,” was born on August 18, 1883, in Saumur, France. After losing her mother at a young age, she was raised in an orphanage where she learned the discipline and simplicity that later shaped her design philosophy. As a young woman, she worked briefly as a shopgirl and seamstress before becoming involved with millinery. Drawing from her early training, she opened a modest fashion boutique in Deauville, France, in 1910, eventually expanding to her celebrated headquarters at 31 rue Cambon, Paris, in 1918.

While Chanel’s fashions liberated women from the rigid corseted styles of the 19th century, it was her perfumes that immortalized her name.

The Birth of Chanel No. 5

In 1921, Chanel launched Chanel No. 5, created by perfumer Ernest Beaux. The fragrance was revolutionary: rather than smelling like a single flower, it was an abstract bouquet of aldehydes and florals, offering mystery, modernity, and elegance. Chanel herself explained her distaste for perfumes that merely imitated flowers, famously remarking in 1931:

“Real perfume is mysterious, but the perfume which many women use is not mysterious. Women are not flowers. Why should they want to smell like flowers?”

The minimal square bottle, with its sharp angles and understated label, reflected her design ethos of simplicity and modern chic. Chanel considered No. 5 her “lucky” fragrance, aligning its debut with her superstition around the number five.

Partnership and Expansion

In 1924, the Société des Parfums Chanel was established with the help of brothers Pierre and Paul Wertheimer, who brought commercial expertise, international contacts, and capital. Chanel herself retained only 10% of the shares, while Pierre Wertheimer held 70% and her friend Théophile Bader owned the remaining 20%. This imbalance caused friction throughout her life, as Chanel felt undercompensated for what became one of the most successful perfumes in history.

Despite the tensions, the Wertheimers successfully expanded Chanel No. 5 into a global icon. By the late 1920s, it was the preferred scent of elegant women across Europe and America, and its fame only grew in the decades that followed.

Wartime Challenges and Rival Perfumes

During World War II, Chanel closed her fashion house but kept her perfume boutique open. In 1945, dissatisfied with the quality and distribution of Chanel perfumes managed by the Wertheimers, she attempted to produce perfumes independently in Switzerland. Using leftover raw materials and the help of an anonymous Swiss perfumer, she created fragrances under the name “Mademoiselle Chanel.”

These perfumes included reinterpretations of Beaux’s classics, such as:

• Mademoiselle Chanel No. 1
• Mademoiselle Chanel No. 5 (quickly contested by the Wertheimers)
• Mademoiselle Chanel 31 rue Cambon
• Mademoiselle Chanel Bois des Iles
• Mademoiselle Chanel Cuir de Russie

To avoid trademark issues, she packaged them in cylindrical bottles with sloping shoulders, fitted with disk-shaped stoppers, and decorated with bold red-and-white labels—a striking departure from the minimalist black-and-white Chanel branding.

The Wertheimers, however, quickly moved to protect their rights. In 1946, a legal dispute ensued, and Chanel was forced to stop using the name “No. 5.” Though briefly sold and gifted to friends and select clients, these “Mademoiselle Chanel” perfumes disappeared by 1947, making them a fascinating but little-known chapter of her perfume history.

Legacy

Chanel spent several years in Switzerland after the war, eventually returning to Paris to relaunch her couture house in 1954. By then, Chanel No. 5 was firmly entrenched as the world’s most famous fragrance, later cemented by its association with Marilyn Monroe, who declared she wore nothing to bed but “a few drops of No. 5.”

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel died on January 10, 1971, in Paris. Today, her perfume empire endures as one of the most successful in history. The House of Chanel remains under the ownership of Pierre Wertheimer’s grandsons, who continue to oversee the brand’s perfume and fashion legacy.

Chanel’s true genius was not only in fashion but in understanding that a perfume could be a woman’s invisible accessory—timeless, modern, and unforgettable.